Kueh Tutu

I just had this a couple of days ago, kueh tutu. A lovely, nostalgic sweet kueh that is probably only found in Singapore. It’s a light, rice flour cake with a grated coconut filling. I presume that the origins of this traditional delicacy comes from Malay or Nyonya cooking.

This stall is actually inside Food Republic, an upmarket food court on the top floor of Vivocity. I normally dislike food courts because most of the vendors are employees with no passion in the art of the hawker dishes that they are selling. But this tutu stall looks like it’s run by the real deal, or at least by passionate employees. And there was a queue.

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Ian and I had a look at the stall’s name and started laughing: “Tan’s Tutu”. As Singaporeans, we instantly thought of “Dan gu gu“, which is Hokkien for “wait long long”. For example we might say something like “You want free healthcare in Singapore? You can dan gu gu.” Funny right? :p

What’s interesting about this kueh is that it’s steamed really quick, dare I say just a mere 5-10 seconds! A batch of kueh tutu can be made from scratch within half a minute. And Mr Tan’s hands are lightning quick. Quite mesmerising..

I like the mould they use, it’s got a funnel-like base to assist holding. That’s what I visually associate kueh tutu stalls with, a lined up stack of upturned funnel-shaped moulds. Plus the delicious scent of the steamed rice flour and sweetened coconut.

The grated coconut filling has brown sugar in it. In some cases, palm sugar. You can also have kueh tutu with peanut filling.

I’ve been reading your website and enjoying myself immensely looking at all your lovely kuih. This ‘Kuih Tutu’ (never knew it was called that) can also be found where I live in Malaysia. A malay aunty sells them near my place!